Posts tagged ‘BHP’

Speculation has mounted in recent weeks on possible plans by Brazilian mining company Vale’s new CEO Fabio Schvartsman to diversify and make new acquisitions. New strategic partnerships are in theory ruled out because Vale is big enough “to set its own, even more ambitious goals,” according to the new CEO.

A while ago, a friend sent me an article via WeChat, talking about the top 10 careers that would disappear in the e-era. On top of the list is “journalist,” and I tried to understand the real agenda behind my friend’s action, a tease or a gentle reminder.

My attendance of BHP Billiton’s formal launch of its Prospects blog on Sept. 1 has made me realize that it could have been a gentle reminder after all. No pressure, but she nudged me to think in the long run.

Things have changed in the land of the red dust. In Australia, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto have lifted their boots off the iron ore expansion pedals. In Brazil, Vale has plenty of gas left in the tank, but doesn’t want to boast about it. The game of ‘who drives the biggest SUV?’ suddenly seems in poor taste.

Just as their bigger international counterparts have moved quickly and decisively to cut capital expenditure by around 25% in the wake of the recent rout in oil prices, Australia’s oil and gas players have also been tightening their belts and reassessing asset values.

Amid moves that have left some analysts mildly surprised at the speed of the global industry’s reaction to the current downturn, the major Australian players have hit the pause button on spending.

Platts steel team tasked our design and production department to take a wealth of steel raw materials data and transform those freshly mined (sic) numbers into something visually engaging. In this post we present you with the very interesting results.

BHP Billiton CEO Andrew Mackenzie is a multilingual, soft-spoken Scot who had a brilliant academic career before moving into industry. Rio Tinto’s urbane CEO Sam Walsh is a patron of the arts in Western Australia and is well-known for collecting antique jugs.

Neither men are what you might describe as “bruisers.” Yet both have rolled up their sleeves since taking charge a year or so ago, flexing their managerial muscles with the aim of turning their mining companies into much leaner and meaner organizations.

The past twelve months saw a number of developments in global steelmaking raw materials markets, most of which will have a bearing on markets in 2014:

Chinese steel output unstoppable: Despite a steel sector that seems permanently bearish, full of cash-strapped traders, unprofitable mills and stuttering end-user markets, China keeps on making more steel. Crude steel production in 2013 rose 7.5% year-on-year to reach around 780 million mt and the Asian giant is expected to produce close to 810 million mt this year. Even if output starts to plateau, incremental increases on such a large base will continue to drive strong demand for raw materials.